Apparatus for drying grain.



(No Model.)

W. TWEEDALE &. W. L. HARVEY.

Patented Jan. I4, 1902.

APPARATUS FOR DRYING GRAIN.

[Application filed Mar. 29, 1901.)

lllrts @TATS Pat-rent @FFKQE.

\VILLIAM TlVEEDALE AND WILLIAM L. HARVEY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

APPARATUS FOR DRYING GRAIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Fatent No. 691,209, dated January14, 1902 Application filedMarch 29, 1901. Serial No. 53,387. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern;

Be it known that we, WILLIAM TWEEDALE and WILLIAM L. HARVEY, residentsof Ohicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Drying Grain,

of which we declare the following to be a full,

clear, and exact description.

The present invention has for its object to improve the construction ofthe apparatus for drying grain described and claimed in Letters Patentof the United States granted to us, No. 638,429, dated December 5, 1899,whereby the cost of manufacture is diminished and the efficiency of theapparatus considerably increased.

The invention consists in the features hereinafter described,illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed outin the appended claim.

Figure 1 is a view in central vertical sec tion through a dryingapparatus of our improved construction. Fig. 2 is an enlarged detailview of a section of the ported walls.

The previous construction comprised inner and outer verticalwalls ofmetal having openings therein, with an intermediate space for thereception of the grain or other material to be dried, together withmeans for directing a blast of hot air transversely through the openingsin the walls and the grain-interspace. Upwardly-extending guards weresecured to the cylindrical walls over the open ings to prevent thepassage of the grain therethrough.

In the improved construction the walls are provided with ports struck uplaterally from the body of the sheet metal and having upwardly-facingopenings. By this means we dispense with the necessity for theemployment of the guards secured to the walls, thus reducing the cost ofmanufacture and permitting the use of much thinner metal, whereby theconductivity of the walls and the efflciency of the apparatus arematerially increased.

Upon a suitable foundation 10 is placed a metal base 11, preferably ofthick boilerplate. Three concentric vertical cylinders or walls 12, 13,and 14 are mounted upon the base B. The walls are preferably constructedof sheet-metal sections braced by hooped angle-irons 15, thelaterally-extending flanges of which furnish convenient means forriveting the sections together. Suitable bracerods 16 maybe employedwhere desired, connecting the hooped angle irons 15. The space betweenthe outer wall or cylinder 12 and the intermediate wall 13 is closed atthe upper end by the top plate 17, from the center of which rises thegrain-delivery spent 13. per end by a cover-plate 19, preferably ofconical shape, to uniformly distribute the grain as it enters theinterspace formed between the cylinders 13 and 14. tom of the innercylinder, through the base 11, opens a hotair-delivery pipe or passage20, through which hot air will be forced by a suitable blower 21.

The inner and intermediate cylinders 13 and 14 are constructed of thinsheet metal, from the body of which small sector-shaped portions arelaterally stamped or struck up by a suitable die to formlaterally-projecting ports 22 of peculiar formation, which are staggeredand placed closely together, as shown in Fig. 2. In Fig. 1 some of theports are omitted for the sake of clearness. The ports project outwardlyupon the cylinder 13 and inwardly upon the cylinder 14, (see Fig. 1,)and the The inner cylinder 14 is closed at its up-' In to the bot-"openings thereof face upwardly and are arranged in transverse horizontalplanes, so that the grain is effectively prevented tron: passingtherethrough.

The air is forced transversely through the ported Walls and intermediategrain-space and escapes through the short pipes 23 into the bustle-pipe24, and thence to the discharge 25, as indicated by arrows in Fig. 1.

The base 11 is provided with a series of discharge-openings 26, openinginto the grainspaoe and through which the grain escapes to a suitablehopper 27. These openings are controlled by annular grid-valve 28, whichis in the ordinary manner provided with openings to register to agreater or less extent with the openings 26. An externally-projectinghandle 29 is provided to manipulate the valve. Any other suitable formof valve may of course be used to regulate the passage of grain throughthe drier, and thereby control the- In the use of the apparatus grain tobe dried is delivered to the spout 18 and fills the annular spacebetween the walls 13 and 14. A blast of hot air is then forced by theblower 21 through the inlet-passage 20 to the inner cylinder. Fromthence it will pass transversely through the ported walls or cylinders13 and 14 andthe intermediate grain-space into the annularconducting-chamber formedby the cylinder or wall 12, from which it Willfinally be discharged through pipes 23, bustlepipe 24, and outlet 25.The body of grainis not only subjected to the heat of the air passingthrough it, but also the heat conducted from the hot air through thewalls of the cylinders 13 and let. Byconstru-cting these walls of sheetmetal formed with the peculiarlyshaped stamped-up'ports we do away withthe necessity of securing guards formed of separate pieces of metal overopenings in the walls, as in the old apparatus. This permits the use ofmuch thinner sheet-metal walls,

and the amount of heat conducted therethrough to the grain is thusconsiderably increased. In this construction, moreover, the

ports may be staggered and overlapped, as shown in Fig. 2, so as to beplaced more closely together than in the prior construction, and allparts of the body of grain will be more tiforoughly subjected to thetraversing currents of hot air, while at the same time theupwardly-facing openings of the ports 22 may be made sufficiently largeto permit the free passage of the air without danger of the escape ofthe grain through the walls of the cylinders. It is obvious, too, thatthe cost of oc -ave construction is considerably diminished by formingthe walls of thin sheet-iron having the peculiar-shaped ports struck orstamped up in the body of the metal.

The apparatus is designed particularly for drying grain and the like,but may be used with equal effectiveness for cooling grain. Also changesmay obviously be made in the construction of the apparatus Withoutdeparture from the essentials of the invention.

Having thus described our invention, what We claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

A drying apparatus comprising inner, intermediate and outer wallsseparated to form corresponding spaces and chambers, the inner and outerspaces or chambers being for hot air or the like while the intermediatespace or chamber is for the reception of the material to be dried; saidinner and intermediate Walls being formed of sheet metal having plainopposing faces (2'. 6., without offsets) to permit a free passage of thematerial to be dried and having ports stamped from the body of the metalwhereof said walls are formed, the offset metal forming said ports lyingentirely upon the sides of said walls away from their opposing faces andthe tops of said offset metal portions terminating at approximately thetop lines of the openings in said walls.

WILLIAM TVVEEDALE. \VILLIAM L. HARVEY.

Witnesses:

JAMEs H. PEIRCE, ALBERTA ADAMICK.

